Students Hold Their Ground Amid A Sea Of White Supremacists On U.S. Campus

Hundreds of white marchers with blazing torches clashed briefly with counterprotesters on the Charlottesville campus of the University of Virginia on Friday, the eve of a rally planned by thousands of white nationalists, media said.

The events highlight a persistent debate in the U.S. South over the display of the Confederate battle flag and other symbols of the rebel side in the Civil War, fought over the issue of slavery.

Marchers could be heard chanting “white lives matter” and “Jews will not replace us,” the Washington Post reported.

The marchers chanted and made their way from Nameless Field through the sprawling campus to the school’s Thomas Jefferson statue, where they were met by counterprotesters, an affiliate of NBC news said.

Both groups threw punches and pushed each other as police arrived to break up the clash. A chemical irritant was sprayed into the crowd, NBC29.com reported.

At least one person was arrested and several on campus were treated for minor injuries, the Daily Progress newspaper said.

These are literally young UVA students age 17-23 standing up to a sea of white supremacists and neo-Nazis surrounding them #Charlottesvillepic.twitter.com/VEU3mU9d3o

— sophia armen (@SophiaArmen) August 12, 2017

“I am beyond disgusted by this unsanctioned and despicable display of visual intimidation on a college campus,” Mayor Mike Singer said in a statement.

A number of anti-racism groups also made statements about Friday’s events on social media.

Racism never left America. It remained as a violent, systemic evil, and has recently become even more overt. 2017, 2007, 1997, 1987… https://t.co/c7KkFrMXh1

— The King Center (@TheKingCenter) August 12, 2017

If hate comes to your campus:
1. Ignore the event
2. Ask your college to denounce
3. Talk to the group hosting https://t.co/E8EKECIhwP

— SPLC (@splcenter) August 12, 2017

The University of Virginia also condemned the event.

We strongly condemn the unprovoked assault on members of our community tonight. https://t.co/qXdyhDlXVI

— UVA (@UVA) August 12, 2017

The clash came the night before an estimated 2,000 to 6,000 people were to attend a Unite the Right rally to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a public park on Saturday.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe has said extremist groups have threatened to try and attack rally participants, to express opposition to the statue’s removal.

The National Guard is on standby, with Virginia State Police coordinating security in the city of 45,000, the governor said in a …